Innocent Bystander
by Lieutenant Caine
Summary: Calleigh is an innocent bystander when Horatio loses his temper. T for safety.


This story was written after an extremely stressful trip to New Mexico. Upon arrival, I found that not only had my baggage been "misplaced" by my airline, but my room reservation had not been made regardless of my secretary's assurances that she had taken care of that small detail. Needless to say, I was more than a little miffed at the situation I found myself in through no fault of my own. My anger needed an outlet, and thus this story was born.

**Innocent Bystander**

The strident sound of Frank's voice was easily heard above the usual hubbub of the CSI headquarters on that particular Monday morning. It was not uncommon to hear Frank's voice raised. What was very uncommon was to hear the other usually calm, smooth deep voice, responding in an equally heated manner.

"Frank, I told you I wasn't ready to release that suspect yet! Why did you let him go!?" Horatio's voice was barbed and cutting.

"Come on, Horatio, you know we had nothing on him. He may have been guilty as sin, but we couldn't hold him any longer. The evidence wasn't enough."

"His 24 hours wasn't up until noon today. It's not even 9:30 yet."

"Stuff it, H."

"Francis, that is exactly what I intend to do when we re re-apprehend this guy and prove him guilty."

"You do that Horatio. But in the mean time, stop crowding my case." Frank glared at his redheaded friend before leaving in a huff.

From down at the other end of the hall, Calleigh, Jesse and Walter watched the exchange between Frank and Horatio with various expressions of amusement and surprise.

"Okay, boys. Who gets to give Horatio the bad news?" Calleigh chirped brightly.

"Ah…I've got some fibers to analyze…umm…in trace." Walter stammered, backing away from Calleigh the entire time he was talking.

"Oh, come on Walter." Calleigh scolded.

"Sorry, Calleigh. Gotta run." And Walter disappeared as fast as he could.

Turning to Jesse, Calleigh took a menacing step closer to him.

"Jesse…I guess it falls to you to tell Horatio the DNA we recovered is not a match for our suspect."

"You know, Calleigh since I'm relatively new and all, and since you know Lieutenant Caine so much better than I do, I really think it would be better if you tell him yourself."

"Oh, good lord, Jesse! Don't tell me you are afraid of Horatio." Calleigh sighed.

"I've heard that redheads have vicious tempers. I just don't want to get caught in the explosion. Good luck, Cal. Let me know how he reacts."

Calleigh was left standing in the corridor with a file she was certain Horatio Caine would NOT want to see. However he had demanded the results as quickly as Natalia could process the blood, and someone had to break the bad news to him.

Gathering her courage, Calleigh started down the hall toward Horatio's office where he had disappeared after his verbal altercation with Frank. For a moment, she hesitated before knocking softly.

"Knock, knock."

"Come in." was the muffled and terse answer from the other side of the door.

Calleigh eased open the door and poked her head in part way.

Horatio was seated at his desk, glowering at the file he had open in front of him. He looked up and Calleigh felt herself almost speared through by the angry sparks still snapping in Horatio's blue eyes.

"Well…are you going to stay in the hall?" he challenged when Calleigh did not open the door wider and let herself in.

"If it's a bad time, I can come back later, Horatio." Calleigh kept her voice soft, hoping not to further incite his obvious ill temper.

"It's not a good time, but today in general seems to be the wrong time. Come in Calleigh. What do you have for me?" His tone softened a bit, and he almost smiled at her.

Calleigh stepped into his office, holding the file in front of her almost like a shield.

"You wanted the results of the DNA testing…as quickly as Natalia could run it…" her voice trailed off at the intense look that came into Horatio's eyes.

He got up quickly from his desk and hurried to take the file from her hands.

His reaction at reading the results was forever etched in Calleigh's memory from that day on.

A dark, cloud of rage came over his usually handsome face and he turned to face Calleigh.

"This. Has. To Be. A. Mistake." He bit out each word separately, each word impacting Calleigh's hearing like a bullet.

"I'm sorry, Horatio, but it's not. Natalia ran it twice. The blood doesn't match our suspect." Calleigh's voice was soft and tentative which seemed to anger him more.

With an enraged growl, Horatio threw the file to the floor, scattering paper everywhere and lunged at a very startled Calleigh. He clamped his hands on her upper arms and jerked her close.

"Do you know how long I've been after this man, Calleigh? Do you?" He snarled.

Calleigh was rendered speechless in the face of such anger. She'd never seen him react so violently and a trembling nod was all the answer she could give him.

Horatio continued almost as though she weren't flush against his body, with her hands spread against his chest. "I've chased this man for five years, Calleigh…five long years and then the DNA comes back negative. It mocks me. This man is not human. He can't be to keep escaping me like this!"

"Horatio…we'll keep after him…we'll…" she stopped when icy blue eyes glared down at her, chilling her with the burning fury she saw there.

The next thing Calleigh knew her lips were crushed beneath his in a blistering kiss. He held her tightly, transmitting all the anger he felt through his scorching touch. Even though his grip on her arms was painfully tight, she knew instinctively that even in his towering rage, he wouldn't hurt her, so she arched her body closer to his and willingly parted her lips. Desire flared through her veins and she moaned in pleasure.

Feeling the free response Calleigh gave him, Horatio, growled and let his hands begin to wander over her luscious body. One hand moved to tunnel into the silken softness of her hair at the back of her head and pull her closer to his mouth, where he continued to ravage her lips with his. The other hand moved lower to cup her breast and stroke her roughly.

Calleigh's gasp of mixed pleasure and pain seemed to bring him to his senses and he tore his mouth from hers.

He glared down at her, his breath coming in gasps and his chest rising and falling in uneven motion. Finally he loosened his hold on her and let his arms fall away from her to hang limply at his sides. He ran one hand through his hair, stepped away from her and took several deep breaths, trying to clear his head. He turned his back to her and began kneading at the tension-knotted muscles in his neck.

"Calleigh, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that," he said over his shoulder. His voice was hoarse with regret.

"No worries, Horatio," Calleigh said softly, hoping that he would realize that she was calming him with his own pet phrase for reassuring others. She was rewarded with a quick intense look from him as he partially turned back around to face her.

"Yes, worries, Calleigh. I let my frustration get the better of me and an innocent bystander was caught in resulting explosion."

"I'm assuming by 'innocent bystander' you mean me." Calleigh murmured stepping closer to him.

Horatio's eyes went wide when she deliberately brought her hands back into contact with his chest again and flattened her palms against him. Locking her eyes with his, she whispered, "I'm not complaining Handsome."

"Calleigh," he warned softly as her hands traveled over his chest in gentle caresses. "Calleigh it's not wise to play with fire."

"I'm not afraid of being burned, Horatio," she whispered, just before she pulled his head down to hers and captured his lips again.

That was as long as Horatio allowed her to maintain control of the embrace. A low growl rumbled from his chest and he tightened his arms around her and deepened the kiss.

When they finally came up for air, Horatio looked down at her passion drugged look and chuckled.

"What was that laugh for, Handsome?"

"I was wrong, Calleigh," he said simply.

"Wrong? Horatio Caine, wrong? Impossible, Handsome."

"Well…" he said as he placed tiny kisses on her lips, "… you may be a bystander, but you are certainly NOT innocent."

"Hmm," you keep that up and you'll discover just how innocent I'm not," she giggled just before she shoved him down on the couch.

As her lips closed over his, he had to agree she was most certainly NOT innocent.


End file.
